Nitric oxide and the cerebral-blood-flow response to somatosensory activation following deafferentation.

Abstract

The single-vibrissa stimulation model in the rat was utilized to study the microvascular coupling between functional activation and local cerebral blood flow (LCBF) in both normal cortex and in cortex that had been peripherally deafferented. In addition, the role of chronic nitric oxide synthase (NOS) inhibition on the LCBF response to vibrissa stimulation was examined. One-day-old rats underwent deafferentation of all vibrissae on one side of the face, sparing C3, and received daily administration of either saline or N omega-nitro-L-arginine (L-NA). After seven weeks of treatment, LCBF was measured autoradiographically in conscious rats with [14C]N-isopropyl-p-iodoamphetamine while C3 was s..